Title Page The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga, Second Edition, by Thurmond A. Williamson







© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved ContentsTable of Contents











© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved IndicesIndex Links











© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved LinksOther sites and files of interest to the Munson family









© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved PreviousChapter 23
The Life and Family of Emma Munson Murray (b. 1855-d. 1936)







© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved NextChapter 25
The Life and Family of Joseph Waddy Munson I (b. 1861-d. 1917)







© 1987, 2005 Thurmond A. Williamson; Internet format © 2005 Laura Munson Cooper All Rights Reserved

The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga

Chapter Twenty-four

THE LIFE AND FAMILY OF SARAH MUNSON KENNEDY
b. 1858 — d. 1913

SUMMARY

The fourth child and second daughter of Mordello and Sarah Munson was born on June 9, 1858, and was named Sarah Kimbrough Munson for her mother. She was raised at Bailey’s Prairie, and, at the age of 22, she married Walter Kennedy, the proprietor of a neighboring plantation. Sarah and Walter Kennedy had eight children. Five grew to adulthood and married, but among them they had only two children, and from these there is but one daughter in the next generation.

For all her life, Sarah Kimbrough Munson II was always called “Doll,” and she has always been known by her many nieces and nephews as “Aunt Doll.” Family tradition relates that at birth and as a baby she was called only “Doll,” and was not given a name until she was several years old, at which time she chose her mother’s name for herself. As a child and as an adult she was a small, slender, warm, and loving person and a favorite of all. She attended school at home on the plantation and later in Houston “at a school for young ladies.”

A handsome bachelor proprietor of a neighboring plantation, Walter Kennedy of Waverly Plantation, was a friend of the Munsons. He and his bachelor friend, Henry William Munson III, socialized and dated together. His letters to Henry’s sister were addressed to "Miss Doll Munson.” On February 2, 1881, they were married. He was 39 years old and she was but 22. She was the first Munson daughter to have married for at least three generations. One can imagine the joyous occasion at the Munson home at Bailey’s Prairie.

Walter Kennedy’s father, William Kennedy II, was born at Alexandria, Scotland, in 1800, and came from Edinburgh to Camden, South Carolina, as a young man. There, in 1831 or 1832, he married Mary Haile, who was born in Lancaster Creek, S. C., in 1812. She was the daughter of Benjamin Haile, an officer in the American Revolutionary War. In a letter to his sister in Scotland, William II wrote of his marriage to Mary: “. . .after six months of courtship, I married a handsome, accomplished lady whose father, Benjamin Haile, is a wealthy plantation owner." He also said that he would like to visit his family in Scotland but wanted to “remain a citizen of this great new country.”

Walter Kennedy was born near Camden, South Carolina, on November 22, 1842, the fourth of eleven children. After a year in college and at the age of 18, he volunteered on July 21, 1861, as a private in the South Carolina Volunteers of the Confederate Army. He was assigned to Company E, 9th Infantry Regiment. This was the exact date of the first battle of the war at Bull Run, Virginia. He was discharged due to illness on October 12, 1861, and soon thereafter volunteered as a “sharpshooter” in the 7th South Carolina Cavalry. He was assigned to Company H, 15th Squadron. This became General Longstreet’s Corps, which fought in General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Virginia until the end of the war. Longstreet’s Corp was engaged in battles at Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and Richmond. It is not unlikely that Walter Kennedy was with Lee at Gettysburg, at the final battle for Richmond, and at the surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

William Kennedy II had bought land in Texas in 1848, and in 1869 he moved his family to his Waverly Plantation, now the Ramsey State Prison Farm near Chenango. Son Walter Kennedy was 27 years old at the time. William Kennedy II died in 1869 and is buried in the West Columbia Cemetery. His wife, Mary Haile Kennedy, died in 1894 and is buried in Stephenville, Texas, where another son, William III, then lived. Walter Kennedy inherited Waverly Plantation, where he and his bride, Sarah “Doll” Munson, made their home. Eight children were born to them there as follows:

1. Sarah — born November 10, 1881 — died at Bryan Beach, July 30, 1896, at age 14 (the day before the birth of her brother George).
2. Walter Munson — born October 8, 1883 — died in infancy.
3. Mary Haile — born October 23, 1885 — married Daniel Bell Giesecke in 1913, and died in Angleton on September 10, 1986, at age 100.
4. Emma — born May 15, 1888 — married H. H. Sanders and died on October 28, 1969 in Brazoria County.
5. Helen — born March 23, 1890 — died September 7, 1894 at age 4.
6. William Benjamin — born February 8, 1894 — married Eva Butler and died on January 22, 1985 in Angleton.
7. George Caldwell — born July 31, 1896 at Bryan Beach — married Hattie Bonner and died on April 26, 1981 at his home in Angleton.
8. Adelaide “Addie” — born July 11, 1899 — married Cyril Yates and died April 17, 1980 at her home in Angleton.

In the 1960s Mary Kennedy Giesecke wrote a short account of her childhood memories which included the following:

     Our family spent each summer at Granpapa Munson’s large beach house which was a meeting place for his family. My mother, Sarah, was the hostess for the crowd. Many nights after supper, Granpapa and I would lie down on the gallery and talk. He told of the “pact" he and his brother, William, made, that, if possible, for the one who died first to come back if he could. He told how strict his step-father Caldwell was and said he had enough whippings for all future children and never wanted them so punished. The house on Bryan Beach was destroyed during the 1900 storm at which time the family spent the night at Perry and Octavia Bryan’s large home a few miles away. We lost two homes in storms. In 1902 we went to live with Granpapa Munson at Bailey’s Prairie. Uncle Armour had moved to Angleton. When Granpapa died in 1903 we moved to Angleton.

During their eighteen years at Waverly Plantation, the Kennedys were neighbors to the George and Henry William Munson families at the nearby “Van Place.” They visited often and the children all attended the private school at the “Van Place.” Walter and Sarah Kennedy’s last child, Addie, was born at Waverly Plantation in July of 1899, but they must have been planning to leave the plantation prior to that time. Economic hardships, together with educational opportunities for the children, may have been the reason for their move from the plantation to “town.” Apparently the same things were happening with the George and Henry William Munson families at the "Van Place,” as they also moved to the Munson land in Angleton at about the same time.

Walter Kennedy built a small home on the Munson property in Angleton, at what is now 600 S. Walker Street, in about 1898 or 1899. He was in this house at the time of the 1900 storm. He was blown out of the house and crawled through the storm to the nearby home of George and Hannah Munson. The house was destroyed and his brother-in-law, Milam Stephen Munson, used this homesite to build a beautiful home for his bride when he was married in 1901. This was long known as “Judge Munson’s home,” and stands today at that address.

Walter Kennedy then built a new home “down the road,” on the same family property, at what is now 520 Bryan Street. This handsome home was long known as the “Kennedy home,” and it stands today under its eighty-five-year-old live oak trees.

In 1902 Armour and Lilla Munson moved from the Ridgely Plantation home into Angleton because Lilla did not like living in the country, and Walter and Sarah Kennedy moved to Bailey’s Prairie to take care of her 72-year-old father. When Mordello died in 1903, the Kennedys moved back to Angleton.

After 1903 Walter and Sarah Kennedy and their family lived in their new Angleton home, and he was engaged primarily in the cattle ranching business. At some date he apparently sold the Waverly Plantation, and his wife soon inherited her share of the Bailey’s Prairie plantation. Like her mother, “Doll” had borne eight children in eighteen years and was plagued by illness in her later years. Because of her ill health, they sold their Bailey’s Prairie property in about 1911 and moved to the drier climate and better medical facilities of San Antonio. There Walter built a beautiful home. He was then about 68 years old and Sarah was about 52.

"Aunt Doll” died in San Antonio on August 13, 1913, at the age of 55, the same age at which her mother had died. Walter Kennedy then moved back to his Angleton home and renewed his ranching activities. In about 1923, at the age of 81, he retired and moved to Port Arthur to live with his son, William Benjamin. He died there on November 28, 1926, at the age of 84, following a lingering injury. While fishing, he had slipped on the bank and injured his leg, and he never recovered from the injury. Both Walter and Sarah Kennedy are buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

The Descendants of Walter Kennedy and Sarah K. Munson

The first child of Walter and Sarah Kennedy was named Sarah M. (possibly for Munson) Kennedy, born November 10, 1881. She died July 30, 1896, at the age of 14. According to the family Bible records, this Sarah Kennedy died one day before the birth of her parents’ seventh child, George Caldwell Kennedy, who was born in the beach house at Bryan Beach on July 31, 1896. It is often told by those who were living then that she died the same day he was born, so maybe it was the same night. She was buried on the beach. Doll Kennedy wrote in her diary on November 10, 1896, “Sarah’s 15th birthday, and she is in Heaven. O my God, why this great sorrow; Sarah, Sarah, Mama’s precious darling.”

The second child, Walter Munson Kennedy, was born October 8, 1883, and died in infancy.

The third child of Walter and Sarah Kennedy was Mary Haile Kennedy, born October 23, 1885, at Bailey’s Prairie. Here again, the mother “went home to mother” for the birth of the early children. Mary was named for her South Carolina grandmother, Mary Haile. Her early education was with plantation teachers at the “Van Place,” then she attended Angleton High School and graduated in one of the earliest graduating classes, in 1903. She attended Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville for two years and earned a teaching certificate. For many years thereafter she taught in the Angleton schools.

In 1913 Mary Kennedy married Daniel Bell Giesecke of Angleton. The wedding was held in Houston. They lived with his parents, the Cornelius Gieseckes, in Angleton, where they helped to operate Giesecke’s Department Store, which later became Bowman’s Department Store. Their only child, Walter Kennedy Giesecke, was born in 1917. His name illustrates the admiration that Mary held for her father. In personal interviews for this book, Mary Giesecke still expressed that deep admiration for her father, who, amazingly, was a soldier in the Civil War.

After Bell Giesecke’s death on June 15, 1957, Mary Giesecke continued to live at 126 East Orange Street in Angleton in a small house which they had built there in 1920. She lived there for sixty-six years. On October 23, 1985, she celebrated her 100^th birthday. She continued to be an active member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Brazoria County Historical Society, and many ladies’ clubs. She was a lifelong member of the First Methodist Church, which her grandmother, Sarah K. Munson, had helped to found. She died in Angleton on September 10, 1986, just six weeks before her 101^st birthday, and is buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

Walter Kennedy Giesecke graduated from Texas A. & M. College with a degree in agriculture. He married Jean Anne Galloway and they have one daughter, Marijean Giesecke. When Kennedy enlisted in the U. S. Army at the beginning of World War II, he and his wife went to California for his first assignment. She worked in Sacramento while he was overseas, and after his return they remained there. Both died in Sacramento, Jean Anne on January 4, 1988, and Kennedy on January 27, 1992 at age 74. At last notice, Marijean, who is not married, was living in California.

The fourth child of Walter and Sarah Kennedy was Emma Munson Kennedy, born May 15, 1888. Emma was named for her aunt, Emma Munson. Emma graduated from Angleton High School and worked most of her life at the Brazoria County Court House in Angleton, managing the office of the Texas A. & M. Extension Service for Brazoria County. She married Henry Hayward “Hy” Sanders in about 1955. Hy passed away June 29, 1957, and Emma on October 28, 1969 at age 81. Both are buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

The fifth child was Helen Kennedy, born March 23, 1890. She died on September 7, 1894, and was buried at Bryan Beach.

The sixth child of Walter and Sarah Kennedy was William Benjamin Kennedy, born February 8, 1894. He was named for his great uncle, William Benjamin Munson (the brother of Mordello) who bought the first land at Bailey’s Prairie in 1847. William Kennedy graduated from Angleton High School and attended San Antonio Academy. After leaving school he worked with Adriance Munson in civil engineering and surveying in Brazoria County. He then moved to Port Arthur with his brother, George, where Frank Smith had secured jobs for them at the Texas Company (now Texaco, Inc.). Later they operated a petroleum distributing business in Port Arthur, and finally William moved back to Angleton, where he raised cattle on land just west of Angleton. He married Eva Butler of Port Arthur and they had one child, William Benjamin “Buddy” Kennedy Jr., who died in 1949 at the age of 19 as an invalid. Eva died September 27, 1976, and William Kennedy Sr. died in Angleton on January 22, 1985, at the age of 90. Bill, Eva and Buddy are buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

The seventh child of Walter and Sarah Kennedy was George Caldwell Kennedy, born July 31, 1896, at the beach house on Bryan Beach. He was named for his uncle, George Caldwell Munson. George graduated from Angleton High School and attended San Antonio Academy where he played football. Upon returning to Angleton, he organized the high school’s first football team. George worked with his brother in Port Arthur where he met and married Hattie Bonner. They returned to Angleton, where he raised cattle on his land southeast of Angleton, and at Snipe near Retrieve State Farm. During the 1930s, he and his cousin Armour Munson, also a cattleman, owned a meat market in Angleton.

George Kennedy was always active in the annual Brazoria County Fair, and in 1955 was President of the Fair Association. For years he provided steers to boys and girls to raise and show at the Fair, and in 1953 he bred the Grand Champion Steer. The 1981 Brazoria County Fair was dedicated to his memory. George was also active in the Cattlemen’s Association and the Lions Club.

George and Hattie Bonner had no children, but were particularly close to Joe, Laura Jane and George, the children of George’s second cousin, Joe U. Munson Sr. Joe and Ruth Anna named their youngest son George Kennedy Munson. Hattie died November 6, 1978 at age 76, and George died April 26, 1981 at his home in Angleton at the age of 84. Both are buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

The eighth and last child of Sarah and Walter Kennedy was Adelaide “Addie” Kennedy, born on July 11, 1899. She was named for her mother’s sister-in-law, Adelaide Cotton, who had married brother Bascom Munson. Her mother, Sarah “Doll” Kennedy, was 41 years old at the time of her birth and had given birth to eight children in eighteen years. Addie, as she was always called, graduated from Angleton High School and attended Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville where she earned a teaching certificate. She taught school in Angleton, in Port Arthur, and then again in Angleton, where she met and married Cyril Yates. They had no children. Addie died at her home in Angleton on April 17, 1980, at the age of 80. Cyril Yates died in Brazoria County November 30, 1999 at age 93. Both are buried in the Angleton Cemetery.

A regretful phenomenon in the entire Kennedy family is the small number of children that this family has produced. Of the eight Kennedy children, five grew to adulthood and all were married, but they produced only two children. These children, in turn, produced but one daughter.

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